In their laudable attempt to present a balanced view of the "climate change" issue, our "Amelia Street Sages" have missed the salient point ["Climate report: Murky with opposing fronts," March 4].
The real issue is not whether the Earth is heating up--it may or may not be, the data are inconclusive--but whether or not the change is anthropogenic.
In the "Editor's Note," the editors correctly identify this as a critical question if we are to try to do something about it.
But in their selection of contributors, they neglect this aspect in favor of intellectual change merchants and policy wags, without noting that they are arguing about the wrong thing.
Further, they do not cite any of the real scientists on either side. Granted, they are hard to identify (see "Climategate"), but they are out there.
This is certainly a subject on which we need a real scientific debate.
While that is proceeding in an orderly, un-doctored-data-driven fashion, the policy people need to sit down and pay attention (you too, Al), instead of driving the economy over the cliff.
I look forward to following that debate in the pages of The Free Lance-Star.
William E. Richardson
Stafford